I remember the nights
by Strange Music
Summary: A long night at the libary and a unexpected visitor. Old friends and old memories.


Writers Note:   
  
Written after I had seen first Season Buffy.  
  
Slight AU Warning. Meaning I didn't change much. But there is a lot   
speculation that is simply not even speculation.  
  
The problem is that I like Twist stories ;)  
  
Let's face it. I sat down at my Computer and started to write. This   
was the result.  
  
Hope you like it...I welcome feedback..but please no flames!   
  
Thank you ;)  
  
I remember the nights   
by Strange Music-;  
  
She entered the Library on silent feet.  
  
Wanting to watch him, before she would announce her presents. To see   
how much he had changed in all those years.   
  
He was older.   
  
But then 20 years were a long time. For her it had meant one   
beautiful child, one failed marriage and quiet a few gray hairs in   
her once blond hair.  
  
They hadn't known each other for very long....only a short   
time. And just as she had been about to forget him. He popped up   
from her past.  
  
She closed up to 5 steps now. Yet none of his movement had given any   
indication, that he had realised, that he wasn't alone anymore.  
  
Back then she had told him, how dangerous this habit of his was.   
  
That one day he would be killed with his nose in a book. Not seeing   
the danger coming close.   
  
Another step. It *was* satisfying to know, that she could still move   
stealthily. All that time out of training might have rusted her   
bones, but not her instincts.  
  
The day her second watcher had appeared she had scared the living   
daylight of him by jumping him with a stake to his heart. They had   
both survived the incident....and later she had gotten his heart   
anyway.  
  
'What was he reading?' It probably was another. 'Let's go an safe   
the world' or at least 'Many people might be killed'. She wondering   
if he had ever read the book she had given him, if he was even   
interested in it.   
  
Her foot brushed the table-leg, deliberately.   
  
His head shoot up, his eyes narrowing as he adjusted them to see in   
the darkness beyond the lamp. A look of suspicion crossed his   
features.  
  
"Mrs?"   
  
"So I was right Giles...you really don't remember me."   
  
Stepping closer, she moved her face closer to the light. "Now I know   
it's been a long time. But surly I can't have changed that much."  
  
There was a moment of uncertainty, then his face lit up. "Oh my god,   
it *is* you. I wasn't sure the other day."  
  
Smiling slightly she shook her head "You know how life is. It gives   
a little and it takes a little."  
  
"Changing your name....."  
  
"Yes that too. Remember Rupert. I was a popular girl. People knew me   
and they remember especially those who shouldn't. Then when I got   
pregnant....I thought it was safer"  
  
The smile was so much like his old one, that for a second it melted   
the years away from his face. But the ever-present shadow returned.  
  
"I heard about you and Hank....I am sorry. I thought you were a   
perfect couple."  
  
„And we were, for quite a few precious years, years that I wouldn't have   
wanted to miss.......So she told you?"  
  
Giles only nodded.   
  
"My daughter got a slack mouth. I wonder where she got that from?"   
she saw it in his eyes even before he opened his mouth. "Don't   
answer that"  
  
"So what happened?"   
  
"Well Hank and I were pretty happy. And when our first child was   
born I thought I couldn't be any happier. Till the day that we found   
out that she was a Slayer too. By god Giles I understood him. The   
last thing I wanted was my precious little girl to see what I have   
seen. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to protect her. Not   
anymore. Not when my time was so long by."  
  
He looked into her with suspicious eyes. She that he remembered the   
day she had left. The vow never to return to this truly   
*godforsaken* town. And now she had. Not because it was safe, but   
because in the knowledge that with him around here she would be able   
to sleep at night. She would not stop to worry, but she knew that   
she had given her daughter all the chances to survive this.   
  
"Hell's mouth....LA....It's all the same for the Vampires of today."   
  
The beeping of the watch reminded her that she still had a few   
things to do.  
  
„I have to go." Once more she looked into his eyes "Take good care   
of her. She is still so young."   
  
"You were the same age...only if I might add a little less   
destructive." Patting her hand "I will take care of her to the best   
of my possibilities."  
  
"You know...there are still days where I simply want to close her up   
in her room and never let her out. Instead I have to play unnoticed   
to the trips she makes late at night"  
  
Standing up she turned to face the door. "I will tell her about it   
when the time is right."  
  
"Yes, you do."   
  
She was almost gone, when his voice once more rang thought the old   
Library.  
  
"I will take care of her, Joyce. I will take care of Buffy."  
  
"Thanks" and then she left.   
  
The End   
  
So what did you think? Looking forward to LOC! No Sequel in the near   
time. As I have to clean up all those halfwritten stories lying   
around on my hardisk.   
  
I have too many of them. Two of them are over 100 kb.   



End file.
